By accident of birth or some would say by destiny, my generation is about to live through yet another sea change of consciousness in this great experiment called the United States of America.

It was as if those audio vignettes so often played on the nearby National Public Radio station WCAI were being spoken out loud, live and seriatum at the Oak Bluffs library:

“I used to carry all the bags off the steamboat, then the ice, and then deliver letters. We’d go to the fish market and open quahaugs for all the hotels. And we’d do the Flying Horses at night, and go swimming,” Billy Norton said, recounting growing up in Oak Bluffs in the 1930s.

“Susan, I have what I swear is a peacock hanging precariously onto my niger (thistle seed) feeder. Earlier the same bird was enjoying cooling off in my garden sprinkler. I am sure it is someone’s pet — do you know who owns peacocks in West Tisbury?”

By LYNNE IRONS

Don Brown is a marketing genius. There is a gorgeous Golden Rain Tree in North Tisbury. Don put a large number of them for sale along the road at the newly reconstituted Middletown Nursery. I practically wrecked the truck pulling in for a walk-about. There are some interesting plants for sale and it is worth stopping by.

Then, right down the road, please stop in at Fiddlehead Farm. There is wonderful local produce and an excellent selection of meats and cheeses. It is a food-shopping pleasure.

I have been very blessed lately, and I bet that you have been too.

It is not an epidemic of good fortune, but rather an overabundance of pollen that has brought all of those “bless you’s” in response to the seemingly never-ending supply of sneezes.

Wash Day Art

As the green movement has grown, hanging out clothes has become de rigueur. Solar dryers, some call them, but around here they are still known as clotheslines, and on the Island they never really went out of style, except possibly with the emerging trophy house crowd who live in climate-controlled homes where the windows are never thrown open to the fresh, unpolluted sea air.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

June 6 58 54 .04

June 7 62 53 Trace

June 8 80 61 .00

June 9 88 70 .00

June 10 91 63 .00

June 11 85 64 .00

June 12 87 64 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 70º F.

Early Service

    From June through August, the Federated Church on South Summer street in Edgartown will hold an early, informal service at 8 a.m. each Sunday. The service generally will last about 30 to 40minutes. The regular worship service will be held at 10:30 a.m., with child care available at this ser vice. More information is available by calling 508-627-4421.

Democratic Council Will

Sponsor Candidates’ Event

Candidates for the Democratic nomination for state representative to replace the retiring Rep. Eric T. Turkington will introduce themselves on June 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs School.  

The Democratic Council of Martha’s Vineyard, which is sponsoring the event, invites the public to meet the five candidates, learn their views and ask questions.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

Jenna Zadeh, back home after graduating from Westfield State with a degree in music education, found herself in charge of an unexpected group of young ones on Sunday. When she went out that evening, she saw four baby skunks roaming as a pack around her yard.